Bottom Line

Meet Janeal Hoyte!

Janeal Hoyte is a recent college graduate from the University of Massachusetts Boston (Class of 2012). She previously graduated from Lynn Classical High School (Class of 2008). Janeal now works full time as a paralegal at law firm in Beverly, MA named Doonan, Graves, & Longoria, LLC. Janeal also just finished taking the LSAT  and is currently applying for law school in the fall of 2013.

If Janeal had to fill a care package with something it would be a Cheez-It’s. She stays involved with Bottom Line because Bottom Line was a great support system and advisor when she was graduating high school going into college, in college, and now that she wants to further her education in the legal setting. Bottom Line “is an amazing place and outlet for knowledge. The staff are not only amazing but very helpful. I would recommend Bottom Line to anyone.”

The best part of being a college graduate is being able to say “I did it!!!” and having a feeling of accomplishment. The hardest part about being a college graduate is waking up EARLY every morning to go to work as opposed to class and only being in school for a few hours.

Join me in supporting Bottom Line by helping make care package for undergrads this year!

It is hard to believe that 2012 has come and gone.  Time flies at Bottom Line, especially at the end of the year when high school students are scrambling to send off their college applications and colleges students are wrapping up the fall semester and waiting anxiously for their grades.

I am pleased to say that in 2012, Bottom Line did our part to jumpstart the economy, adding 12 new full-time staff positions and producing 120 new college graduates. Some of the year’s other highlights include:

We launched our national support office and began to look at additional expansion opportunities.

Our New York office doubled in size from 4 to 8 staff and served more than 300 students in just our second year.

In September we kicked off a $5 million growth campaign in Boston and announced a $2.5 million dollar gift from the Grand Circle Foundation. Inside of 5 years, we expect to reach virtually every eligible high school and college student in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury and provide them with Bottom Line’s one-on-one support.

We continued to refine our College Success program model and curriculum to ensure the highest level effectiveness and lead the national dialogue.

At Bottom Line, every year has been bigger and better than the last and we expect this to be true again in 2013.

• Our NY office will once again double in size – growing from 8 to 16 employees.
• We plan to open a second Boston location in Dorchester, MA to make it even more convenient for all Boston students who want access to our support.
• We expect at least 160 new college graduates by Summer 2013.

As the year winds down, with few exceptions, we see very little movement on the national scene that would make our work unnecessary.  While there is constant rhetoric about making college accessible and affordable and ensuring more students graduate, the systems that surround higher education are very slow to change.  College costs continue to rise, student to counselor ratios remain ridiculously high and colleges rarely recognize that that the bureaucracies they have in place don’t yet serve the first-generation, low-income students who they enroll.

So Bottom Line must grow- we must continue to be available to serve the students who need us, and we must spread the word that there is another way.  High-quality, relationship-based advising can steer disadvantaged students towards the finish line and help build their impoverished communities that are so desperate for our help.

– Greg Johnson

CEO, Bottom Line

Here in New York, our counselors have the opportunity of working with both our high students in our College Access Program and our college students in the College Success Program.  December is a stressful time for all of our students, and as counselors, we are charged with helping them see that their hard work will help achieve an end goal – whether that is submitting their college applications or excelling on finals.

Many of our college students are nervous and stressed out about final exams, unsure of exactly what to expect and eager to end the semester on a positive note. After Thanksgiving we have ventured to all our campuses to meet our students for “Finals Prep,” where we gather information about upcoming finals and create a study plan unique to each class. Ideally, our students leave these meetings knowing exactly what stands between them and the end of the semester, and have a detailed calendar and plan on how to excel on their exams. Because of Hurricane Sandy’s visit, these meetings are especially crucial since our students must seek out information about finals that have changed due to their impromptu week off from school.

Meanwhile, as we are prepping our college students for their finals, we are also helping our high school students submit all of their college applications! These “Packaging” meetings are an exciting and stressful time for our students. We reassure them that they will get into college and their essays are perfect. Coaching students to press the “submit” button is often a process that requires patience and encouragement – clicking that one button changes each student’s life trajectory. The smile on our students’ faces as they hang up their star on the “I Hit Submit” wall is worth every second of essay editing or common app review. Some of our students are already receiving acceptance letters. These letters are confirmation that their hard work was worth it and bring further excitement that their dreams of being the first in their family to attend college are becoming a reality.

Visiting our college students on campus gives the counselors in NY an inside perspective on many of the colleges on our high school students’ lists. This information helps us provide our access students with more detail about the student experience at each school, and ultimately informs where we encourage students to apply and attend.

-Victoria Hulit

Bottom Line Counselor, New York

Sarah Place – Director of Curriculum & Training

In a recent Education Week blog article, “Community College Transfers Often Do Well at 4-Year Institutions,” author Caralee Adams cites positive data from the National Student Clearinghouse regarding the success rates of students obtaining BA degrees after transferring from two-year colleges.  This report states that “In the 2010-11 academic year, 45 percentof all students who completed a degree at a four-year institution had previously enrolled at a two-year institution.”

I must admit that I was surprised to find such a successful rate of transfer students in this report; throughout my 6 years of experience working with low-income and first-generation students in Massachusetts, I have not witnessed the same result for students who begin their education at a two-year institution.  Out of the hundreds of students I have worked with at Bottom Line, I can count on one hand the number who have successfully transferred from a community college and received a bachelor’s degree within six years–so these students are the exception, not the rule.

In order for students to transfer to a four-year college, they must be successful at the start of their two-year college experience, and this is often not the  case. Getting to the Finish Line: College Enrollment and Graduation, a report by the Boston Private Industry Council and Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies that tracks graduation data from the Boston Public High Schools’ Class of 2000, found that only 12.5% of students who enrolled in a two-year public college directly after high school obtained any kind of college degree within seven years. With this rate, it’s no surprise that counselors and college professionals are hesitant to recommend starting the college experience at a two-year institution.

Massachusetts ranks 47^th on the National Student Clearinghouse’s report with only 23% of four-year college graduates getting their start at a two-year institution.  While there may be a variety of reasons for this, in my experience, students in MA often have a negative association with attending a two-year college that doesn’t as appear to be a prevalent in a states like Texas, where 78% of four-year college graduates start out at a two-year school.  The students in our program that enroll at a community college are usually doing so because they did not get accepted anywhere else and are often discouraged before they begin due to the stigma and low graduation rates at many of these institutions.

Nonetheless, it makes a lot of sense for certain students to start off at a community college.  Ideally, these schools offer an affordable option for students needing remedial academic support, and a safe place for students to explore whether or not college is the right path for them.  Financially, a student can complete general education requirements at a community college for around  $4,000 per year and it can be covered by a Pell Grant. Academically, students unprepared for Bachelor’s degree level coursework are better off beginning their college experiences at a community college where credits are more affordable and remedial academic support is offered.  Because so many of the students entering community college are those needing remedial support, however, their path to getting a degree is a long one.

As tuition and fees continue to skyrocket at four-year institutions across the state, more students are going to need to explore creative ways to obtain a college degree.  I for one look forward to the day when more students can begin their college careers at two-year institutions.  It would save them money and often could save them time, but until there is a shift in the stigma associated with Community College this will not likely be the case.  In order to change the perception, we must start seeing more positive results in graduation and transfer rates at these institutions.  While the northeast is often looked upon as leading the way in higher education, this seems to be a clear example of where we have a lot to learn from the states to our south and west.

–  Sarah Place

Director of Curriculum and Training

Cross-posted at Aspire Wire: Ideas, Conversation, Action on Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Meet Hermese Velasquez, our December Alumni Spotlight!

Hermese Velasquez is currently a Business Analyst at Arbella Insurance. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, Certificate in Business Analysis from George Washington University and plans to attend business school in the near future. Hermese is originally from Belize and came to Boston at the age of 11.  She enjoys traveling to warm climate countries, trying new foods, spending time with family and catching up with friends.

High School: John D. O’Bryant

College: UMass Amherst

Graduation Year: 2009

Job: Business Analyst at Arbella Insurance Group

Bottom Line Memory: Visiting UMass Amherst with the Bottom Line

If I could send a care package, I’d fill it with: Trader Joe’s Almond Vanilla Granola Clusters and Eucerin Body Lotion (weird combination but I couldn’t start my day without either!)

Why I stay involved with Bottom Line: I support and believe in Bottom Line’s mission and values. I stay involved with Bottom Line because they not only believe the people in my community can beat the odds but they ensure that they do.

People would be surprised to learn that I used to: Write for the O’Bryant newspaper

The BEST part of being in college was: Spending a semester abroad

The HARDEST part about being a college graduate is: Cooking, though the food wasn’t always great in college, at least I didn’t have to cook.

Join me in supporting Bottom Line by: Donate if you’re able to, if not support with your time and skills.

Bottom Line prides itself on being proactive about the services that we provide to our students.  Our goal is to empower staff at Bottom Line to think critically about our services using the data we collect during the school year. We want to ensure we are supporting our students in the best possible way.  This past spring, Worcester College Access Program Manager Michelle Easton took a closer look at our students’ financial aid data.  Michelle was curious to see how the decisions a high school senior makes regarding financial aid impacts their likelihood of graduating from college.  The result is our first Annual Interesting Report (AIR for short).

An excerpt from our first Annual Interesting Report:

“Financial aid can make or break a college education.  Despite having the best grades and work ethic, a student who is unable to pay for college will be unable to continue their education.  This seems so obvious, and yet many of the students we work with at Bottom Line struggle to fund their education.  Many of our students and their families try their hardest to make college a reality, but are often unable to sustain such great expenses year after year.  In order to best advise our high school students in their final college choices, I wanted to dig deeper and fully understand how financial aid impacts our students.  In the spring of 2012, I sifted through our data to analyze over 130 students’ financial aid outcomes, and confirmed that financial hardship had a significant, negative impact on college graduation rates.”

The complete report is available here: 2012 Winter AIR – What Effect Does Financial Aid Have on College Graduation Rates

Success Counselor Kira Terrill talking with a student at our Worcester Office

It’s hard for my First Year students to believe that the Fall 2012 semester is almost over! With that disbelief also comes the students’ awareness that their grades may not be as good as they were in high school. Many students really struggle with the transition from high school level to college level work.  Luckily, Bottom Line students have their counselors to really help guide them through the transition.  Bottom Line addresses this issue by providing summer programming and has developed specific tools to help our students find success during their critical first year.

Our summer transition program includes both group workshops and one-on-one meetings. One workshop on time management always seems to be especially eye-opening. After adding classes and study time to a weekly schedule, counselors bombarded students with different responsibilities and activities that also needed to be taken care of, on top of all of their studying and homework!  I can remember one student shouting “I don’t have time for all of this extra stuff!” Although a little early, it was an easy way for students to prepare for things they were about to face during their first (and every other) year of college. Some students immediately internalize the lesson and others need more reinforcing once they arrive on campus.

This fall, I’ve been working with many First Year students on improving their time management and study skills. I have 38 First Year students at four different colleges and have had 196 campus meetings and phone follow-ups this fall.  Additionally, I met with over 50% of my First Years who felt like they needed extra support for time management and test prep strategies meetings. Simply reading over notes doesn’t really cut it on college exams. My students and I have worked together to create study plans tailored to each of their exams, as well as their learning needs. With some students, I can simply suggest recopying and summarizing notes or making flashcards for vocabulary words. With other students, they may need to draw diagrams, attend tutoring and office hours, and form study groups. Helping students create these study plans and break down when things need to be done, makes the task of studying a little less daunting. Showing students how to put in a little extra effort and attack problems from different directions to make success possible shows the value of our meetings to my students and is why I love working for Bottom Line.

– Kira Terrill

Success Counselor

NY Program Director Ginette Saimprevil meets with a student

It’s been a very difficult few weeks in New York City.  As you know, New York was hit by Hurricane Sandy on October 30^th, devestating  many parts of our area.  Thankfully, here at Bottom Line we were relatively unharmed – our building did not lose heat or power in the storm.  Our hearts go out to our students, friends, family and others across the City who have suffered enormous losses from the storm.

The Bottom Line New York office closed for a couple of days immediately before and after the storm, but by Wednesday of that week, the counselors who could make it to the office – whether by foot, bike or bus – were there, calling and meeting with as many students as possible.  Our staff missed seven college visits during the week of the storm.  Some were made up through phone check-ins, and many were rescheduled for the following week.  We also missed over 30 Access meetings.  All of these meetings were rescheduled within a week of being missed – counselors worked extra days over the weekend, and our Program Director stepped in to pick up almost a full week’s worth of meetings.

We were able to make contact with all of our students and, thankfully, most were fine. However, a few of our students were greatly affected by the storm, and we are working to get them the help they need.  One thing we’re doing immediately is a professional clothing drive for students and families who lost belongings.   Although many subways, bridges and tunnels were closed for over a week after the hurricane, the Bottom Line office has been packed with students, and counselors have been coming in early and staying late into the evening to help students complete their college applications and stay on track with their school work.  We never cease to be amazed by our students who, no matter the obstacle, continue to stay focused on their goals.

Things are finally feeling almost back to normal for most people in NY, although a few communities continue to struggle without heat or power.  We are grateful for our relative good fortune and so proud of the way our team pulled together.

– Ruth Genn

Executive Director, NY

Richard Pierre is a recent graduate from Bentley University (Class of 2011), with a B.S. in Marketing and a minor in Finance. He currently works as a Finance Specialist at the Boston Consulting Group. He is originally from Boston, MA and currently resides in the city. He enjoys playing basketball, football and dominos. However, he enjoys hanging out with friends, traveling and playing videogames on his downtime. His plan is to develop his career in the finance industry and build his network in the business world. He is also passionate about supporting his friends and family whenever they are in need.

High School: Boston Latin Academy

College: Bentley University

Graduation Year: 2011

Job: Finance Specialist at the Boston Consulting Group

Bottom Line Memory: Summer 2007, freshman farewell party

If I could send a care package, I’d fill it with: Airheads and Laffy Taffy’- and some winter gloves.

Why I stay involved with Bottom Line: Bottom Line instills positive values in young individuals, and that’s something I will always respect.

People would be surprised to learn that I used to: Watch “Dawson’s Creek”.

The BEST part of being a college graduate is: That you can go out on the weekends, and not have to worry about homework that needs to be done on Sunday.

The HARDEST part about being a college graduate is: Knowing that you can’t use the “I’m in college” excuse anymore…

Join me in supporting Bottom Line by: Staying involved, attending the events, spreading the word about the organization to those around you, and donating if you can. (Learn more about care package sponsorship here: http://bottomline.org/care-packages.aspx )

By the first week of November, I have packaged – Bottom Line lingo for submitting college applications with our students – seven students on my caseload of sixty-two. This is a huge step in the life of each Bottom Line student for a variety of reasons. Our students are often the first in their family to apply to college and, in many instances, are the first in their families to be on track to graduate from high school.

Packaging meetings last at least two hours; however, since Halloween candy appeared in the office, they have been running a little longer. Being the dork that I am, I started calling them “Snackaging” meetings; mostly to satisfy my own desire to sneak puns into my meetings, but also to break the ice and calm my students through the intense experience of actually hitting submit. After their college essays are checked twice (just like Santa’s list), and their Common Application and other applications are filled out – “I’s dotted and T’s crossed” – they sit down, fingers hovering over the mouse for a second, and, in one tiny movement, change the trajectory of the their prescripted lives. After submitting, our work here at Bottom Line is nowhere near done. We spend the last few minutes of these meetings creating checklists for follow-up and broaching the subject of financial aid – another application process we assist students with beginning in January.

Before our students head home, out into the wintry air, perhaps traveling over an hour on public transportation to get home – magic happens. In advance of their meeting, a yellow star is made with the name of said student printed in bold lettering. After a student has clicked submit, they place their stars on a wall in the office under the statement “I Hit Submit!” When a student makes a move towards the wall, star in head, whispers begin to fly around the office.  Heads turn and both counselors and students stop their work to clap as the student proudly places the star on the wall. “I have applied,” they silently declare, one giant leap towards something more.